Loblaw-owned T&T Supermarket, self-described as "Canada's favorite Asian supermarket chain," plans to open its first US location, in Bellevue, Washington, in the summer of 2024.
With that opening, Loblaw will return to the US almost three decades after it sold National Supermarkets to to Schnucks Markets.
According to Yahoo News, company CEO Tina Lee says that “T&T Supermarkets is marking 30 years as Canada’s favourite Asian grocery store with the announcement that it will soon open a store in the United States … we couldn’t be more excited to bring our unique offering closer to home for customers in the United States."
The story says that "the Bellevue store, located at the Marketplace at Factoria, will offer 'more than 300 of T&T’s private label products' as well as a 'sushi counter, hot food bar and noodle station' … The 76,000-square-foot branch will also serve as a flagship store and will purportedly become the 'largest Asian supermarket in the state'."
T&T "was founded in 1993 by Cindy Lee, an immigrant from Taiwan. The mother-of-three opened her first grocery store in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, with the help of her husband Jack Lee." It currently has more than two dozen stores in Canada.
- KC's View:
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I've always been surprised that Loblaw hasn't been more aggressive about moving back into the US; I suspect that this could be a harbinger of things to come.
